#i grew up in a gf household with a sister with a dairy allergy and i also have a . minor. dairy allergy. i mostly ignore it but like i try

[bitegore]

if you're not fussy about texture but like a good taste, I find that you can skip milk/shortener/etc entirely and just use flour, eggs, water and a little extra sugar to accomodate the lack of sweetness from the milk. I know I don't really notice a difference.

Also if you want a really easy gluten free dessert recipe that I use often - amaranth flour, egg, sugar, water, whatever spices you like in your sweets (vanilla extract is my only certain one here). Mix them up, taste the batter to be sure it's sweet enough, and then just put it in the microwave for 2-4 minutes (however long it takes to be 'done' if you stick a fork in it). Sometimes I make a sauce to top it with by just mixing sugar and hot water and pour that over it, but it's pretty good on its own. Amaranth flour has a kind of nutty taste and it comes out richer in flavor than it sounds.

I've done this with almond extract, with rose water and pistachios, with anise extract, and with pumpkin spice, and also if i remember right once i did it with hot pepper flakes and cocoa powder but i might've added more ingredients to that one. Wasn't nearly as good when I mixed any all purpose flour or rice flour in, it's best to just use plain amaranth flour. This is good if you want a sweet treat really badly and don't have the time, energy, patience, etc to make something "real".

you can also make rice pudding with coconut milk instead of dairy milk, it's not the kind of pudding where it changes the recipe significantly

also you can make mulled fruits (pears, oranges, apples, strawberries if you're bold, etc) by poaching certain fruits in a mixture of spices, wine/cider/etc, and sugar, which are also a good treat and have the additional benefit of being pretty unlike any other desserts people recommen and (most likely) not something you remember from your childhood... god knows sometimes the gluten free or dairy free versions of something you've had before in an unadjusted recipe are a ridiculous letdown and it helps me to broaden my horizons and eat things i've never had before instead. (I do enjoy my mulled fruit with ice cream b/c i'm not dairy free these days, but it's probably good with any rich flavors. goes nicely with some savory dishes too, i still dream about a very expensive tiny little cut of lamb with mulled pear sauce i had once years ago and plan on indulging in again as soon as i can make sure someone else pays for it lol)

finally - if you really step outside your usual wheelhouse (I have recently) acorn squash of all the things can be roasted into almost caramel sweetness in the oven, and then turned into soup. My acorn squash soup is a savory dish, but the more i make it (i have so far made a variant of the same soup six times in the last two months, it's delicious and easy if a ltitle time consuming), the more I think about how good it would be if instead of mixing it with chicken broth and hot peppers and garlic and also as many cloves nutmeg ginger cinnamon etc as i can fit in there, i put in some vanilla extract and my usual dessert spices and a bunch of marshmallow and some brown sugar and maple syrup as was suggested in the recipe i didn't follow for the first time i made the soup because it was so sweet without it that i was kind of flabbergasted... basically doing some sort of marshmallow sweet potato soup with it.

☝️ This may not be a universal experience. I've never had acorn squash before this year and this year I had it because I signed up for a local farmshare to force myself to eat some vegetables that weren't onions or grocery store arugula for the first time in half a decade. from what i have both heard and tasted myself, farm produce and grocery store produce vary, sometimes very little and sometimes huge amounts, in terms of taste and especially in terms of sweetness. Your mileage may vary.

This recipe is what i *very very loosely* cribbed my method from, but tbh i didn't use any of the recommended ingredients besides the roast garlic because i didn't have any of them in the house and i don't like to add cream to my dishes (it doesn't need coconut milk or heavy cream - the texture is very smooth on its own!) and instead of topping it with roasted seeds - side note, if you like pumpkin seeds, save the seeds from the squash and soak them in salt water for about an hour (the amount of time it takes to roast the squash), put them on a baking sheet, spritz some oil if you want but its not necessary, dust with spices or lemon juice if you want but again unnecessary, and roast for 20-30 minutes at 300F & you now have basically roast pumpkin seeds for basically free just by having the acorn squash. ive been eating a lot of squash seeds and saving lots of money on bags of chips - i put bacon on it the first time and the second time i just had it plain. its good plain. its good as fuck. im kind of obsessed with this squash and the soup. i eat my dinner and it feels like dessert.

generally i am a big kitchen experimentalist because i hate to follow recipes and i hate to buy ingredients. but truth be told, my experience is also that - having restrictive diets and such that gluten allergies do to you, not even counting dairy - the best way to get desserts that actually taste good to me and also don't cost an arm and a leg is just to fuck around with the basics of decent desserts, like spices you like and sweeteners you like and flours you like and stuff - and just keep adding new elements until you've found dishes that work for you. Most of mine are really lightweight easy things that cook quickly or without a lot of additional work, but i also spend a lot of time making burnt sugar, caramel or toffee because i like sugar a lot and it's cheap and easy and it tastes good. if you like recipes it's probably not easier but i don't like recipes and it's miles easier for me to freestyle my way into accidental glory.

oh one last one! another relatively unusual one, cook rice noodles in coconut water and sugar for Dessert Soup, especially with chopped fruits and nuts and spices in there. and a splash of red wine for body. the red wine is optional but i think it improves it a lot personally

I see you know about gluten free desserts, do you have any good dairy (milk specifically) free cookie recipes? Specifically chocolate chip? (any other desert is alright too... I just miss deserts)

So you can make the tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe (just search "tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe", it's the one ontheback of the bag) with vegetable shortening instead of butter and you can use Njoy chocolate chips and you should have a tasty, crispy, dairy-free chocolate chip cookie.

Also look up 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies, the only ingredients are eggs, peanut butter, and sugar.

You can also make pie pastry with shortening and then make a berry or cherry filling with fruit, water, sugar, lemon juice, and starch for a fully vegan dessert.

And for something different, look up how to make mango sticky rice, which is a Thai dessert made with rice, coconut milk, sugar, and mango.